Now, don't get me wrong here... Trout is still a better defender. There is absolutely no question there. I'm just saying that Cabrera isn't the defensive liability that conventional wisdom says he is. I would say he's probably average... maybe slightly above average defensively.

I think it's a stretch to even call Cabrera average defensively. His range (which at the ML level is more important than having a good glove or arm) is truly horrific and by virtually every metric you can find, he's one of the worst third basemen in the league.

Even if he was above-average, his impact on the game defensively would still be dwarfed by Trout's. We're talking about the best CF in the AL and maybe all of baseball (don't watch enough NL to know for sure. I know Stubbs and Bourn are very well-regarded).

Winning the Triple Crown is like hitting a Grand Slam. Do you have to be good to do it? Yes. But you are also a champion of circumstance, all you had to do was be the best THAT YEAR. Not an easy task, but the criteria is not fixed and has nothing to do with 'value'.

Winning the Triple Crown is like hitting a Grand Slam. Do you have to be good to do it? Yes. But you are also a champion of circumstance, all you had to do was be the best THAT YEAR. Not an easy task, but the criteria is not fixed and has nothing to do with 'value'.

How can you possibly make the argument that Trout should be the winner, UNLESS Cabrera winds up with an extra homer this week or winds up hitting one point above Mauer?

The Triple Crown is an indicator of a fantastic offensive season. But I'm really struggling to see how it can tip the scales in a situation like this, to the extent that today you would say Trout's the guy, but if Cabrera hits one more home run and maintains his lead in the others IT CHANGES EVERYTHING.

There hasn't been a Triple Crown winner in 45 years. If Cabrera pulls it off, he deserves the MVP. People have won the award for less. Andre Dawson won it despite playing on a last place team.

Just because it hasn't happened since '67 doesn't mean that the next guy to do it MUST BE the MVP. He's not playing in a vacuum. There's a guy named Mike Trout who's been doing some pretty amazing things too.